A fascinating tale of intrigue and deception

[kallend 2,145]

How the CIA and BND owned the encryption algorithms of dozens of nations for decades.

It's very long and I'm not going to excerpt it, but it's well worth the time to read it.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/world/national-security/cia-crypto-encryption-machines-espionage/?utm_campaign=wp_post_most&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_most

[ryoder 1,590]

Funny thing is Bruce Schneier guessed this back in 2004: https://www.schneier.com/crypto-gram/archives/2004/0615.html#1

...

To protect their secrets, Iranian intelligence -- like the leaders of all countries -- communicate in code. These aren't pencil-and-paper codes, but software-based encryption machines. The Iranians probably didn't build their own, but bought them from a company like the Swiss-owned Crypto AG.

...

 

And in 2008 he wrote this:  https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2008/01/nsa_backdoors_i.html

NSA Backdoors in Crypto AG Ciphering Machines

This story made the rounds in European newspapers about ten years ago -- mostly stories in German, if I remember -- but it wasn't covered much here in the U.S.

For half a century, Crypto AG, a Swiss company located in Zug, has sold to more than 100 countries the encryption machines their officials rely upon to exchange their most sensitive economic, diplomatic and military messages. Crypto AG was founded in 1952 by the legendary (Russian born) Swedish cryptographer Boris Hagelin. During World War II, Hagelin sold 140,000 of his machine to the US Army.

"In the meantime, the Crypto AG has built up long standing cooperative relations with customers in 130 countries," states a prospectus of the company. The home page of the company Web site says, "Crypto AG is the preferred top-security partner for civilian and military authorities worldwide. Security is our business and will always remain our business."

And for all those years, US eavesdroppers could read these messages without the least difficulty. A decade after the end of WWII, the NSA, also known as No Such Agency, had rigged the Crypto AG machines in various ways according to the targeted countries. It is probably no exaggeration to state that this 20th century version of the "Trojan horse" is quite likely the greatest sting in modern history.

We don't know the truth here, but the article lays out the evidence pretty well.

See this essay of mine on how the NSA might have been able to read Iranian encrypted traffic.

Edited February 11, 2020 by ryoder

[turtlespeed 226]

3 hours ago, ryoder said:

Funny thing is Bruce Schneier guessed this back in 2004: https://www.schneier.com/crypto-gram/archives/2004/0615.html#1

...

To protect their secrets, Iranian intelligence -- like the leaders of all countries -- communicate in code. These aren't pencil-and-paper codes, but software-based encryption machines. The Iranians probably didn't build their own, but bought them from a company like the Swiss-owned Crypto AG.

...

 

And in 2008 he wrote this:  https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2008/01/nsa_backdoors_i.html

NSA Backdoors in Crypto AG Ciphering Machines

This story made the rounds in European newspapers about ten years ago -- mostly stories in German, if I remember -- but it wasn't covered much here in the U.S.

For half a century, Crypto AG, a Swiss company located in Zug, has sold to more than 100 countries the encryption machines their officials rely upon to exchange their most sensitive economic, diplomatic and military messages. Crypto AG was founded in 1952 by the legendary (Russian born) Swedish cryptographer Boris Hagelin. During World War II, Hagelin sold 140,000 of his machine to the US Army.

"In the meantime, the Crypto AG has built up long standing cooperative relations with customers in 130 countries," states a prospectus of the company. The home page of the company Web site says, "Crypto AG is the preferred top-security partner for civilian and military authorities worldwide. Security is our business and will always remain our business."

And for all those years, US eavesdroppers could read these messages without the least difficulty. A decade after the end of WWII, the NSA, also known as No Such Agency, had rigged the Crypto AG machines in various ways according to the targeted countries. It is probably no exaggeration to state that this 20th century version of the "Trojan horse" is quite likely the greatest sting in modern history.

We don't know the truth here, but the article lays out the evidence pretty well.

See this essay of mine on how the NSA might have been able to read Iranian encrypted traffic.

I wonder if Iraq participated with Crypto AG.